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Commentary by Robert Ciulla, Ph.D.
Since the COVID-19 coronavirus emerged in December 2019, health care providers have been searching for digital health technology to treat patients. Fortunately, rapid innovation has produced many new insights and tools to fight the pandemic.
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) Connected Health branch (health.mil/connected health) recently searched commercial apps markets for the terms “Coronavirus” and “COVID.” Google Play had four apps for COVID-19 because the store approved apps only from official health organizations and governments. Apple’s App Store had 203 apps because it approved apps from those entities and commercial developers as well.
This search illustrates how for high-stakes medical conditions such as COVID-19, research findings and evidence-based tools based on them can move into the mainstream rapidly. For less-urgent conditions, however, bridging gaps between clinical need and available solutions usually takes much longer – up to 17 years in some cases (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3241518/).
Think about that: Many evidence-based treatment advances sit unused so long, if they were people they would be old enough to drive and almost old enough to vote and serve in the U.S. military. How do such delays help our patients?
This decades-spanning gap between knowledge introduction and implementation exists because researchers often omit the crucial act of knowledge translation . Also called KT, knowledge translation involves concrete steps designed to address two crucial questions: How do overworked medical personnel keep themselves updated? And how do researchers get their findings to end users who can apply them to improve health outcomes?
By implementing knowledge translation processes and best practices, the medical community can achieve better care, better health at a lower cost, as well as increased military readiness. Accelerating the introduction of new and better treatments will improve all care – from the immediate COVID-19 response we need right now, to regular clinic visits going forward.
Seven Steps of Knowledge Translation
The knowledge translation process has seven steps:
1. A needs assessment to identify and prioritize treatment gaps
2. A thorough investigation of scientific literature to determine if effective treatments are already available or easily modified from existing ones
3. Evidence demonstration to show that a new finding is safe and effective
4. Development of instructional materials to educate health care teams and the public about implementation, dosage, and side effects
5. Information dissemination to health care teams and the public via conferences, hospital in-services, email, news outlets, and social media
6. Incorporation into care, including treatment distribution and implementation tracking
7. Tracking effectiveness and collecting feedback to optimize the treatment over time
KT Best Practices
Researchers and clinicians should follow these three best practices:
1. Integrate knowledge translation throughout your knowledge creation process.
Presenting findings at a national conference is not enough. From start to finish, follow the KT process to encourage clinicians to use your findings rather than rely on older methods.
2. Ask the right questions about other researchers’ knowledge, including:
• “How can I safely implement this, with whom?”
• “How do I overcome systemic barriers to implementing this?”
• “Can I contact you with any follow-up questions?”
3. Tap available resources. See if your organization has a research department that can help with needs assessment, literature analysis, evidence demonstration, and feedback and optimization. Education and training divisions are critically important for incorporating knowledge into clinical care settings. Finally, marketing and communications departments can help with message development and dissemination plans.
By embracing knowledge translation, you can help new advances in health technology and practice drive real, lasting improvements in health outcomes…without waiting until those advances are old enough to drive themselves.
Robert Ciulla, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who leads the Clearinghouse at the Defense Health Agency Connected Health branch.
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.20.2020 18:29 |
| Story ID: | 374247 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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